Self-Control in Cyberspace: Applying Dual Systems Theory to a Review of Digital Self-Control Tools

Many people struggle to control their use of digital devices. However, our understanding of the design mechanisms that support user self-control remains limited. In this paper, we make two contributions to HCI research in this space: first, we analyse 367 apps and browser extensions from the Google Play, Chrome Web, and Apple App stores to identify common core design features and intervention strategies afforded by current tools for digital self-control. Second, we adapt and apply an integrative dual systems model of self-regulation as a framework for organising and evaluating the design features found. Our analysis aims to help the design of better tools in two ways: (i) by identifying how, through a well-established model of self-regulation, current tools overlap and differ in how they support self-control; and (ii) by using the model to reveal underexplored cognitive mechanisms that could aid the design of new tools.Comment: 11.5 pages (excl. references), 6 figures, 1 tabl

Prevalent Business Models for the Apple App Store

Mobile applications, commonly known as apps, have become a significant line of business for IS commerce. There is an App for that! With this slogan Apple suggests that there is app out there for many uses and indeed for every circumstance within our everyday life. However, there is a lack of knowledge of what business models prevail in successfully developing and capitalizing an app. This paper aims to investigate prevalent business models. For this purpose, approximately 300 successful apps from the Apple App Store were analysed. Moreover, 10 semi-structured interviews were carried out with app developers who have successfully placed an app within the top charts of the Apple App Store. It is notable that content-driven apps entertaining users in combination with a \u27freemium\u27 or \u27in-app\u27 revenue model dominate the Apple app market. App developers clearly define their target group, specify their market cultivation, and try to avoid free apps

Investigating the Relationship Between User Ratings and Gamification – A Review of mHealth Apps in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store

Gamification of mHealth apps is regarded as a promising approach to counteract decreasing long-term motivation of mHealth app users. Although gamification has received tremendous attention from researchers interested in mHealth apps, little is known about the extent to which gamification is used in real world mHealth apps today and whether the implementation of gamification actually pays off for app developers by, for example, positively influencing user ratings. Within this research, we investigate the implementation of game mechanics for 1,000 apps from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store as well as the potential relationship between the degree of gamification of mHealth apps and their user ratings. While our results highlight a high degree of adoption of gamification for both app stores, they also indicate a positive relationship between the degree of gamification of an mHealth app and user ratings for the Apple App Store only